Legend of Zelda: Shards of Time
by Soverign-Saturn
Summary: We all know the story that forever repeats in the world of Hyrule; the same story repeated in different ways...but what if something happened to change the story? A small stone can cause large ripples and what exactly did those ripples cause? Rated M for future chapters and possible warning for slow buildup to a hopefully good plot.


Legend Of Zelda: Shards of Time

" _Time passes, people move. Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition. Young love will become deep affection. The clear water's surface reflects growth. Now listen to the Serenade of water to reflect upon yourself"- Sheik, Ocarina of Time._

Prologue: The Paradigm shifts

The lands of Hyrule stood peaceful. The gentle winds blew in the valley overlooking the giant castle as a childish giggle tittered through the grass. A child ran from spot to spot picking the budding flowers in a messy, haphazard bouquet. The child knelt down watching a butterfly flutter around, pulling back her brown hair her eyes followed along it's path she noticed a regal man standing near the castle seeming to look for something. From her spot she could see the crown and caplet that was dyed the royal colors. A devilish grin grew as she snuck behind him.

He man could easily hear her, but pretended not to notice. "I wonder where that girl has gone?" he spoke aloud, listing to the stifled giggle from behind him, " To think a father could lose his princess so easily" he continued to walk pretending not to notice the sound of a little someone creeping closer.

"Yah!" yelled the child, "I have captured you in the name of Hyrule!". She was wrapped around his leg looking up at him, "Now as your captor I order all the tea and treats and parties for the whole entire day!"

He chuckled, "Ah the mighty Zelda has defeated me, I have no choice but to comply." he knelt down in a knightly bow to her, "The king submits to the mighty warrior princess, but first what are you doing with all those flowers?"

Zelda glanced at the flowers before holding a proud stance, "I braved the wilds of Hyrule to find the best flowers for mother. But still, its not perfect yet. Don't tell mother I'm bringing flowers 'cuz I wanna get the biggest flowers I can get!". She looked sure of herself to her father , "She's gotta have the best right?" 

The king stood back up with a grunt, "Of course she does, but she already has the best in her children. I could distract her for a little while so you can finish your little bundle, but alas I am your prisoner, dear Zelda."

She was already dashing off towards the fields calling behind her, "You are free to go!". She held up her long dress as she ran back through the valley as fast as she could searching for more flowers and frowning more as she she saw less. The young Zelda edged closer to the forest line and stopped, she looked back towards the castle thinking whether she she should just go back . She thought back to the stories her father told her about the different monsters that waited just to take little children away to eat, the complaints the people had about monsters taking their food and cows, the alerts whenever there was an attack. The thought alone made her blood run cold for a moment...it was a good idea to her to just go back to the castle.

A strong wind blew as if it was pushing her to the forest, it blew petals off of the flowers she was holding. Zelda stepped into the forest slowly looking back to make sure she could still see the castle if she needed to go back. She noticed near a tree trunk an amazing deep blue flower. Coming closer she inspected it, the petals almost looked like glass, the stem shyly hidden by a root. She thought it looked like a hidden treasure, Zelda picked it carefully and held it to the light. "Mother would love this one" she smiled as she put it into the worn looking bouquet.

Another appeared a small distance away, excitedly she hopped over to pick it and scanned for more. She followed the dotted trail of flowers deeper into the forest until she had a large bungle brimming with the strange and beautiful flowers. Zelda looked around trying to find the castle with no luck. The sky was darkening and the stars were beginning to appear, "How do I get out?" she whispered as she tried to retrace her steps. It was eerily quiet; not a bird or insect sounded as she searched. The light was waning fast and she was beginning to panic.

She tried to find the forest's edge before any monsters crawl out of the darkness. It felt like hours she was walking but she didn't see the valley and continued while thinking she was just a lot deeper in than she thought. Starting to feel tired she finally stopped and took a look at at the trees. The forest just didn't end and nothing looked familiar anymore, the silence became deafening to the child. They looked like the trees but something was off about them. She stayed quiet while she walked along to see if she could hear anything but the world was mute. Bit by bit her fear broke her into a run; the forest seeming to carry the exact same tees, the same path, yet it never became any darker than twilight. Zelda ran until she couldn't anymore; she collapsed to her knees and cried tired, frustrated tears. Peeking up from the ground she saw another glassy flower I an otherwise endless forest. Sniffling, she staggered back up on her sore legs and walked to it. Picking it up another appeared.

"I...I have to pick the flowers?" she hiccuped while plucking the flower, another appeared and slowly she followed this trail again. This time they were sprouting in twos, then threes, then nines all leading to a field of nothing but the flowers almost mimicking a flowing ocean hidden within a forest. Zelda had long since stopped picking them and was in awe of the out of place scene. She walked through the field seeing broken stones here and there as well as some statues. The closer she came the more she could make of the statues.

Three stone women each with outstretched arms were posed in a triangle a distance from one another, the center as a round platform with moss covering most of the stones. As she walked to the center another strong wind blew, the sky darkened to night, the petals glowed and swirled around her. Zelda flinched closing her eyes thinking a monster was about to attack. Slowly opening her eyes she took in the sight of the glowing petals dancing around her and thought they were beautiful. Then, images began to form on the petals, small but she could see them clearly- no she could experience them.

Zelda saw flashes of memories, of feelings, of words. She saw herself as older or younger or even looking completely different. She could hear and smell the memories of troubles in different Hyrules, she felt the fears of being attacked by monsters or the kidnappings... the memories. She saw destruction, death,and hate, she experienced the anguish of decades- millenia of darkness then she saw a boy, a man, a hero. A strange hero that always saved everyone. Saving her. Every time. Every memory that swirled around showed the same thing told in a different way; a weak princess unable to do anything to save her kingdom, a creature taking all that she loved away, and a mysterious person being the hero and saving the day. She gazed through lifetimes of memories from someone's perspective for what felt like an eternity.

Was she only alive to be anothers pawn? She slowly sat down on the stone floor as the petals luminescence faded and fell around her. Only one thing rung in her ears as the memories faded from the petals. Zelda. Every woman who was taken was named Zelda. In the memories Zelda was taken away, Zelda was weak to stop things from getting worse, Zelda can only watch from afar , Zelda is only there to be saved by some person who came from nowhere. She is the next Zelda and the story was about to be told again, she just felt it.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

She was weak. She was helpless. She was a damsel in distress in a never ending tale.

No.

The others were weak. The others failed to do what was needed and the end result was always the same.

She I not going to be that kind of Zelda thrown in that insanity. She was going to make sure of that.

Zelda was snapped out of her thoughts by someone calling out for her. There were dim lights floating in the darkness. She tried to stand up, but the weight of her running from earlier finally caught up with her and she sat there and called back for help. The lights came close as hyrulean soldiers had a look of relief seeing the princess.

"Your highness we've found her" one called as another helped her up, she noticed that she was in a grassy clearing. The field, the statues, none of them were anywhere save for one that was somehow in her hand. The king barged his way through and knelt down pulling her into a hug.

"You've been gone for hours, Zelda. What on earth where you thinking!?" he questioned giving her a hard look, "You will not be going anywhere unescorted for a very long time. Do you understand me?"

She moved her mouth trying to say something about what happened. Zelda closed her eyes and sighed, "I completely understand, father", she looked down at the flower, "I found the perfect flower for mother... and I tried to find more of them in the forest and I got lost. I'm so sorry I couldn't find a way back out,"

He stood back up, "It's fine, dear. As long as you are safe that is all that matters.". The king signaled for the group to head back to the castle; as they walked in silence he noticed his child looking intently at a strange blue flower. "That is a very nice flower, Zelda" he spoke, "I never seen anything like that around in all my years- it may be a brand new flower type. We should plant this one in the garden?" She did not respond, but seemed troubled about something. "Zelda?" he called

Zelda jumped and looked up at her father, "Yes? I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"It's... quite alright. You have had a trying day. Well regarding that flower, what do you think it should be called?" he asked

She looked at the flower once again, " Shards of Time" she answered, "It's like a window that can hold memories forever" 

Xxxx (Four years pass)xxxX

Zelda walked down the corridor of the castle with her advisors. She briefly glanced outside where the Shards of Time grew, for a moment there was a grim look on her face before going back to what they ranted about.

"Milady, the people of Goron City have been complaining about the quality of the rocks available to them. Apparently they taste like a rotten zucchini squash and refuse to mine any precious metals until an area with 'better and more nutritional' stones can be found" one reported

"Hmm the Zora people have limestone and marble. If we can work out a sort of barter with them to get those until the Gorons can find another pocket of acceptable rocks to eat" she suggested

"Milady" anther piped pulling behind them a dragging scroll, "There have been a slight infestation of fairies spotted in town"

"The winds have been strong this season, they may of just gotten lost on their way to a fountain. Just inform the people to at least leave a bit of food or them if they see an exhausted one; the fountains are spread out far across the land" she directed

They chatted about other things going on throughout the kingdom, but Zelda long since muted their voices. It didn't matter that much who was whining about a stray horse or the weird man in tights prancing around, or the weird mass attacks by chickens. Everyone in the castle was on edge about something coming. No on would tell her about it but it was obvious that there was a presence causing unrest, yet, she felt as if she knew what it was.

Ever since that night in the woods Zelda behaved much more mature. People praised it as her taking her role as future leader seriously, but in truth it was the knowledge of her past selves that gave her the insight.

She walked and snapped back into reality as a arm looped into hers. A younger brunette was beaming, the freckles on her face contrasting cutely with her bright blue eyes, "Just so you know I had told those book sniffers to leave you alone a long time ago" she chuckled, "You are mine until further notice"

She couldn't help but laugh, "Sure Iridessa, I'll humor you. Besides father will be back today it'll be a wonderful idea if we could all have inner together like the old times. Maybe even go horseback riding and travel to the Kokiri Village- oh! There's a nature festival there this week, this could be fun" she listed getting excited with every idea.

"And _you're_ the big sister?" Iridessa questioned with a light chuckle, "When no one's looking you're as immature as I am"

"Well of course" she said chuckling, "I only show my real face to you, baby sister... you know you look a lot like mother when you smile like that"

They both sighed succumbing to the silence between them. She smiled, stealing a glance at her while they walked. Iridessa was one thing that the other timelines never had. Previous Zeldas were only children and she was happy with this difference in the timeline. Her sister was proof she could change the story she so painstakingly worked to avoid over the years. She pulled her younger sister closer into a hug.

"What's with the hug?" Iridessa asked

"Nothing, just happy" Zelda replied with a wistful sigh, "Hey, even if father isn't up for spending the day with us we can make the best of the day with the two of us"

She nodded beaming. There was a sound of trumpets signaling the return of the king of Hyrule. The two dashed out to the entrance as the king made his return. Waiting quietly at the castle as their father approached. The princesses bowed elegantly to their father with smiles on their faces.

"Welcome home father" Zelda greeted him

"Were your travels safe?" Iridessa asked

Their father's face looked all but inviting. He sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Hello my daughters. I don't have time to chat, there are matters I must attend to. I will have you escorted back to your rooms, there is an important and dangerous person coming to the castle". With that he went into the castle. The girls looked at one another worried.

"But father" Zelda began

"Zelda this is not open for discussion!" he snapped making the two of them jump, his eyes softened, "I'm sorry, dear it's just- it's just that this could potentially cause a lot of harm or a lot of good for our people. We cannot afford to let anything go wrong."

They both ushered their father into the castle, "But father what is going on? Nobody's telling us what is going on! There's troubles everywhere in the kingdom and no one is explaining to us what exactly was causing it" Iridessa spoke.

"I suppose it is good to tell you now" he responded, " There has been a great darkness expanding on our world. Plants and animals are weakening, monsters are more abundant than ever, people are in fear. A single man has been rising with a dark, terrible, and ominous power that can wipe us out. If we do not negotiate something we will be on the brink of death before the year ends"

"We can fight back can't we?" Iridessa pressed

"The people have tried. We've lost good men fighting a pointless war, Iridessa. All those soldiers gone within a blink of an eye. He is much too powerful, all we can do is try to forge a peace." he explained

"...he is that powerful?" Zelda asked softly. She dreaded where this was going. She was hoping it wasn't what she was thinking,

"He is" the king confirmed, " I have seen his power. Barely man or beast could brave him."

"Ganondorf" Zelda whispered before walking off quickly.

Xxx xxX

Zelda headed straight for the royal library as if she was on a mission. She scanned the shelves of its books, passing through book after book containing legends and mythologies of the past. She frowned more and more finding nothing but bits and pieces here and here. She laid the books along a table trying to piece together the legend hinted inside the books.

"Great darkness...lost light...hero in green" she muttered flipping through the books, "Fallen kingdom, hero's blade... hidden power". Her eyes fluttered as the memories replayed of the hero in green with a powerful blade, of the cataclysms that befell once the princess disappeared. Zelda shook her head dissipating the memories, she saw the light outside had faded...was she standing there for hours? She had to get to the throne. She will not let this happen! She sat up and ran out, towards the throne room. Zelda had to try to make her father see that this 'deal' won't go in favor of them.

She stood in front of the doors pushing inside despite the guards trying to restrain her. She pushed her way through staggering a bit. Once she found her footing she saw the man, her blood ran cold as the fear of a thousand lifetimes filled her. The man stood tall, taller than even the king. His hellfire shaded hair and goatee, his greenish pale skin and dark foreboding eyes. His smirk had her frozen, "This is the fireball of Hyrule?" he spoke darkly as he eyed her up and down.

"My eldest child Zelda" the king mentioned, "Do not mind her. Do we have an agreement, Gannon?"

"Father do not make a deal with him! He will lie!" she blurted out, " He will kill us and destroy Hyrule!"

"Zelda!" he chastised but Gannon rose a hand to him.

"My what a outburst" he commented, " So you _do_ know who I am? Well first of all, 'king' I do not agree to the terms. I do have an army to think about and the measly fortune when I can easily have everything you own? You must do better than that for your people. Honestly this is laughable"

"You monster" she said trying to keep her head, "As if you can even underst-". Suddenly she felt a huge force fling her to a wall. Zelda it with a scream and thud"

"Second of all, I will not be talked to like a child who still has mother's milk on her breath" he continued. Gannon stalked over to the now crumpled princess and lifted her by her neck. The guards stood around him drawing their weapons but afraid to even attempt an attack. She gasped as she struggled to breathe. "Oh? Where's your bravado now princess?" He mocked.

"Enough, let her go she is just a child" the king begged

She glanced at her father. He was begging. A king should never beg in front of his enemy no matter the cost, not even her own life.

Gannon's response was to squeeze tighter making her gasp even louder.

There was a small shove at his chest, "Let my sister go!" Iridessa demanded, "Let her go this instant!"

He glared at her and came forward, but the child stood her ground. Hid hardened look turned into a demonic smirk as he dropped Zelda. She hit the floor finally able to take a deep breath and coughing. He grabbed Iridessa's arm and pulled her close, "You have much more fire in you and you didn't even flinch. Impressive" he turned to the king, "I will leave your kingdom be, for now but only if I take your daughter"

"No that was not a part of our arrangement" The king protested

"Oh no, you do not understand. I have already shown mercy to your insolent daughter, but your braver child has piqued my interest. I will agree to your terms if and only if you agree to give me your daughter, if not... then I will wipe out your people." he released her arm and began to walk out, "You have until morning to give me your answer.

It was silent save for Zelda's breathing. As soon as the dark being left the king glared at Zelda. Iridessa was helping her sister up and walking her out of the room.

Xxx xxX

The sisters sat in Iridessa's room, Zelda with her head in her hands. "I'm so sorry. I-I thought that I could..." she broke into sobs. Her little sister sat by her and rubbed her back, Zelda laid in her sister's lap crying.

"It's fine, really" she said trying to calm her, "If it means our people can be okay for as long as we can manage then its worth it. We have to put the interests of our people above out own"

Zelda stood up and walked over to her vanity mirror, "But it shouldn't of been you!" she cried, "This shouldn't of happened! You're not a damsel in distress! If it was possible to kill that...that thing! We would be alright-b-but" she hiccuped

Her sister sighed, "You've always been strong; you were there to help father and I when mother passed, you stepped in to fill the role of a ruler when father left to make allies, you are strong, Zelda. You never even realized how strong you can be. This will pass, you'll have a plan- you always do. Until then I'll wait for you no matter how long it will be"

Zelda's eyes gazed at the desktop of the vanity, "...but you shouldn't. I'm your big sister I should be protecting you." She saw a letter opener. The handle was three Shards of Time flowers. She picked it up tenderly thumbing the adornments, "Remember when mother fell in love with that flower I brought home?" she said with a sad chuckle, " So much that she wanted it to become the flower the kingdom was represented by. Rare, beautiful, and hard to put down...she said they reminded her of us"

Iridessa smiled at the memory. She got up and walked to her sister, "And you tried your best to make sure it took root and bloomed. A field that was a ocean, right outside mother's bedroom as she hoped to get better and walk with us through it. She put her arms around her, "We won't go anywhere, you know that. In the end we'll both be back here to have happy memories again"

She nodded and hugged her sister. Iridessa smiled. She grunted feeling a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Zelda pulled back, the letter opener stained with blood. Her little sister staggered back holding the nape of her neck, wide eyed at what her sister had did. Zelda walked forward quietly, "He will not make you his prisoner. You shouldn't of been the one who should suffer because of me..."

Iridessa backed towards the door then turned to run, Zelda was faster and pushed her back onto the bed covering her mouth and stabbing her, "It's alright" she said between stabs, "I'll make sure no one ever dies from that beast ever again"

Meanwhile the king sat in his room the ultimatum weighing heavily on his mind. He hated what he had to do, he was sure if his wife was alive, this would be what kills her. He had to give Iridessa to a dark lord so he could save thousands.

A knock sounded at his door, "Who is it?" he called

"Father?" Zelda's voice responded from the other side "May I come in?"

Xxx xxX

Gannon walked in to Hyrule castle, silently enjoying the idiots scramble to move out of his way. This was a good sign for him. He walked into the throne room expecting the king, but found the whelp tho dared speak against him the previous day, "What exactly do you think you are trying to pull sitting in your father's chair?" he questioned

"Father believe it to be fitting punishment to give you the decision myself" Zelda replied looking down.

He chuckled, "Humor me"

"He agreed to your terms" she replied. Gannon smirked at her words, she continued, "However as an elder sister I must do what I can to protect my younger sister... so" Zelda got out of the chair and bowed on her knees, "Take me instead and spare my poor sister. I beg you"

He walked forward looming over her smaller frame, "You penance? Cute but I already have my mind set on the other princess-"

Zelda moved fast. She unsheathed a dagger and launched forward stabbing Gannon in the chest. He doubled back clutching the new hole in his chest, "You bitch!" he boomed, "I'll end your pathetic..geh" his chest felt on fire. Gannon could feel his heart strain like a snake had found its way to it. He took a knee...this was not happening. He looked up seeing Zelda in front of him. She grabbed his hair forcing him to look at her. She brought the dagger to his neck

"Humor _me_ , dark one. How does it feel to be tricked by the 'bravado' of a princess?" she questioned . With the hate of a thousand lifetimes she slit the throat of the creature that tormented her incarnations for so long. He covered his neck gasping, drowning in his own blood. The pool slowly formed at his knees. He gave one last glare at this... this creature as the blood filled in his lungs and he world blurred in his vision.

Zelda felt her heart beat in her chest wildly; she did what no one else could do...she killed Gannon. The princess defeated him, not the hero! She fell to her knees coming to terms with taking lives. "It's over, right?" she muttered o herself, "The story did not repeat... but it has never not repeated.". Unknown to her the darkness was seeping out of Gannon's corpse and inching towards her, "Wouldn't that mean a new Gannon will come along? The hero is still unknown.. but the world is safe?" the memories flooded again, "No" she said darkly, "The story never ends...it just repeats...it just repeats...the dark one will return". The darkness enveloped her frame and began to warp her mind. "No... the hero never ends. If the hero becomes the holder of the darkness we will have no one. I have to protect them...I must protect my people"

Zelda stood up as a guard ran in after hearing that Gannon had entered. He nearly screamed seeing the beast's corpse laying here. "P-princess?" he called cautiously, "Are you-"

"Call the infantry, I have an order to execute immediately" she interrupted

"Of course your majesty" he nodded "...but what exactly is the order?"

"The darkness has escaped to find another vessel, I'm afraid. We must execute every young hyrulean male my age and younger. We cannot let this sickness spread anytime soon" she ordered

…..to be continued

"A puppet that can no longer be used is mere garbage. This puppet's role has just ended…."- Majora's Mask, Majora's Mask.

 **A/N**

 **Wooow it has been a while since I've written anything ! Anyways If you made it far enough to see this then thank you for reading this overly long prologue. I would of chopped it into three chapters but wanted to keep the 'break' in the repeated story that is the legends of Zelda together. If this chapter goes well then I'll continue and I will make a lot of things different but try to keep everything explainable in later chapters. Right now this is prefacing what happened to make Zelda the bad guy instead of Gannon. Until the next chapter**

 **\- Soverign Saturn**


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